Bertha-Hewitt/Verndale and Wadena-Deer Creek Baseball Go To State; Perham and New York Mills Force Game Twos

(KDLM) – The 2022 Minnesota State High School League Baseball tournament picture is becoming more clear with a couple of area teams punching their tickets to state on Thursday afternoon.

The Wadena-Deer Creek Wolverines needed to beat the Albany Huskies twice in the Section 6AA Championship after Albany sent them to the elimination bracket with a 7-3 loss on Monday.

The Wolverines beat the Huskies in consecutive games 8-2 and 2-0 to win the 6AA title.

The Bertha-Hewitt/Verndale Raiders are the improbable champions of Section 5A after beating the Hinkley-Finlayson Jaguars twice in the 5A Championship. The Raiders finished the season 11-14 on the season and the 35th-ranked team in Class A. After beating the Jaguars on Monday 8-2, they lost Game One 6-4. In the winner-take-all-Game Two, the Raiders won the 5A title with a 4-1 win.

The Perham Yellowjackets and New York Mills Eagles both kept their seasons alive to for Game Twos in their respective section championships.

After beating Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton 1-0 in the 8AA elimination bracket game, the Yellowjackets won a thrilling 5-3, 11-inning game over the Roseau Rams. Perham had lost to Roseau 8-3 on Monday…only their second loss of the year (their other loss came to Class AAAA-opponent Anoka 10-6. The 24-2 Yellowjackets will play Roseau again at 12:00 on Friday with the section championship on the line.

The New York Mills are in a similar situation. The Eagles lost to Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunberg Fighting Saints 2-0 on Tuesday. The 21-3 Eagles beat KMS 13-2 on Thursday afternoon to force Game Two against KMS, which will be played at 2:30 in Minnewaska.